U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that the United States needs “to allow Ukraine to prosecute the war in the way they see fit,” when it comes to how Ukraine uses U.S.-provided weapons in its war against Russia.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has intensified its appeals to the Biden administration to lift the ban on using U.S.-provided weapons to strike targets inside Russia.
When asked about the issue by VOA Wednesday, Johnson replied, “They [Ukraine] need[s] to be able to fight back. And I think us trying to micromanage the effort there is not a good policy for us.”
Oleksandra Ustinova, a member of the Ukrainian parliament who recently visited Washington, said Russia is taking advantage of U.S. restrictions on how Ukraine uses U.S.-provided weapons.
“Realizing that we do not have the right to use, for instance, HIMARS [rocket launchers] on the territory of Russia, the Russians display all their equipment along the border and use it to destroy the Kharkiv region,” Ustinova told VOA. “And we simply cannot get to them, because there’s a ban on the usage of American weapons on the territory of Russia.”
Last week, Ustinova and some fellow members of parliament met with congressional lawmakers to advocate for a change in policy.
On Monday, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, asking that Ukraine be allowed to use American weapons on strategic targets in Russian territory.
“It is essential the Biden Administration allows Ukraine’s military leaders an ability to conduct a full spectrum of operations necessary to respond to Russia’s unprovoked attack on their sovereign land,” the letter said.
Following the 22nd Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting on Monday, Austin indicated that there’s no change in policy and that the United States is expecting Ukrainians to use the provided weapons within Ukrainian territory.
“In my view, their focus ought to be on the close fight and making sure that they're servicing those targets that will enable success in the close fight,” Austin said.
At the same time, he said, “The aerial dynamic is a little bit different,” responding to a question about whether Ukraine can use American air defenses to hit bombers that drop glide bombs on the Kharkiv region from Russian territory.
VOA tried to clarify this with Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder.
“We are focused on providing Ukraine with capabilities that it needs to defend itself within Ukrainian sovereign territory,” he said. “I'm not going to get into picking apart a bunch of different scenarios. Again, the strategic intent here is enabling Ukraine to defend itself and defend its sovereign territory.”
Former Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, now a senior director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, said the restrictions make it more difficult for Ukrainian forces to defend Kharkiv, which is currently under threat by a renewed Russian offensive.
“If Ukraine could strike at the Russian troops just across the border in Russia that are about to move into Ukraine, Russia would have much greater logistical problems launching this current offensive,” Herbst told VOA. “And if we allow Ukraine to shoot at the Russian jets that are in Russian airspace and are launching the glide bombs, fewer people in Kharkiv would be dying.”
Former Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer also shares this view.
“For 2+ years, Russia has struck military and civilian targets throughout Ukraine. Ukraine should be able to use US/Western weapons to hit Russian military forces inside Russia that support Russian forces operating in Ukraine,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Pentagon's Ryder said the Department of Defense will continue to have conversations about Western weapons with Ukrainians, as well as international allies and partners.
Ryder said that for now, the policy remains unchanged.
“If and when we have anything else to provide on that, we certainly will,” he said.
Tetiana Vorozhko, Kateryna Lisunova, and Maria Ulianovska of the VOA Ukrainian Service contributed to this report.
